Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Reliable models to predict accident frequencies are essential to design and maintain safe road networks and yet the models in current use are based on data collected 20 or 30 years ago. Given that the national personal injury accident total fell by some 30% in the last 30 years, while over the same period road traffic almost doubled, significant errors in scheme appraisal and evaluation based on the models in current use seem inevitable. However, outdated predictive models tend to be applied within various computer programmes, without the user having a full appreciation of their limitations. The project will improve understanding of the limitations of currently available predictive accident models and how these can be overcome.The basic idea underlying this proposal is that, because modern databases now mean that access to accident, traffic and design data is much more straightforward, it is now possible to devise methods to update accident models to any point in time so that up-to-date predictions are always available. Up-to-date models would mean that the accidents associated with alternative design proposals could be more reliably predicted. It would also mean that EuroRAP type maps could be developed but showing true high risk locations (locations that have significantly more accidents than those predicted by the models given the nature of the site and the level of traffic flow) not just those that have potentially misleading high accident rates. Also safety improvement schemes implemented at high risk sites could be properly evaluated taking account of factors such as trend and regression-to-the-mean.In partnership with Lancashire County Council we will undertake a proof of concept project in which we will specifically test the fit of existing models and alternative updating strategies on the road network in Lancashire. Lancashire's award winning MARIO database will provide an ideal platform for this research. Three updating strategies have been identified as potentially feasible and further options may be identified in the course of the research. These will be applied and compared and the preferred approach identified. The principal outputs will be a tool to allow predictive models to be updated to any point in time and a workshop to provide guidance to practioners on both the data and data management systems needed for its application. The methodology developed will ensure that up-to-date models are always available for any location, permitting proper evaluation of safety impacts in the design and planning of road network changes.

"In many European countries adult education centres cover broad levels of the population nationwide. Since the initiation of the UN World Decade ""Education for Sustainable Development"" adult education centres aim to enable learners to act sustainable. However, topics in the field of sustainable development are often only treated sporadically and separately or in discipline-specific courses. But the concept of education for sustainable development emphasises the importance of multidisciplinarity – therefore topics should be treated by a comprehensive approach to sensitise for sustainable acting.However, there is a lack of suitable materials for adults – materials which illustrate the complexity of social, economic and ecological issues adequately and which are related to the everyday life. The objective of the project is to develop teaching and learning materials which support the distribution of interdisciplinary knowledge as well as creative competence in the field of sustainable development. The main focus is on adult learners in language courses. By integrating relevant topics and questions in language teaching learners are inspired to think about the issue and their own actions. The project aims to achieve a long-term change in behaviour of the learners. Because of the complexity of the different topics the development and testing of the materials is limited to language courses. In order to develop the broadest possible effect the materials will be free of charge and freely accessible to all teachers on the internet after the project.For the implementation of the project idea, it is planned to establish a consortium of adult education centres from six EU countries."

Although there is no register of people with autism in the UK, the National Autistic Society estimates that 700,000 people in the UK are on the autistic spectrum. Beyond this, however, almost all of us suffer from anxiety - in some form - during our lifetime. According to Anxiety UK, 1 in 6 people experience some form of 'neurotic health problem', of which the most common are anxiety and depression. Anxiety UK estimates that more than 1 in 10 people are likely to have a 'disabling anxiety disorder' at some stage in their life (http://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/about-anxiety/frequently-asked-questions/). And these figures do not include the many and varied minor forms of anxiety that all of us experience on a regular basis. The aim of this project is to co-design and co-produce, with a cohort of autism sufferers, their friends and family, a tactile digital anxiety management and peer-support tool to assist people with autism in understanding and managing their anxiety in social engagement. The prototype Clasp system will be developed to have three core design components: 1) a tactile digital anxiety object which communicates levels of anxiety to a connected smartphone, implemented using a squeezable Bluetooth-connected digital 'stress ball'; 2) a peer-support network communication facility via SMS and distributed Social Network Service (SNS) status updates; 3) an anxiety data aggregator and visualization for personal and community feedback. If use of the 'stress ball' reaches user-defined thresholds, a user-defined response will be triggered. The user can view their trigger history, which will show times and locations when triggers were reached. Hence, Clasp will allow those with autism to track their anxiety levels over time, to reflect on what made them anxious in different situations, to experiment with interventions that alleviate their anxiety, and to get support from their peers in situations of high anxiety. The specific features of Clasp will come about through an in-depth engagement with a wide variety of stakeholders, including those with autism. Clasp will be underpinned by a study into how anxiety in autistic adults is impacted by and impacts their social engagement and the role digital technology may play in managing anxiety. Clasp will evolve through a process that iteratively and collaboratively captures the requirements for an anxiety management and peer-support system, builds a prototype for such a system, and evaluates key design implications for future development of Clasp and similar digital tools. We will also investigate versions of Clasp targeted to non-autistic users, thus addressing anxiety issues in a broader range of users including those with mental/learning disabilities as well as people more generally.

Individuals experience significantly more stress from the fear of crime than from any direct experience of it. Sources such as Health Canada maintain that the physical environment (e.g. unused and empty spaces, poorly lit areas, areas obscured with trees and shrubs) contributes to these experiences. As an example, on university campuses, opportunities for attackers to hide can increase student fears. It is extremely challenging, however, to design public spaces that fully alleviate the public's concerns over their safety. This is due to a number of reasons: (i) even the best design processes cannot fully anticipate a user group's needs; (ii) usage patterns by the public are not fully known until the public space has been in use for some time; (iii) usage patterns naturally change over time as the role of the space in the community evolves. As a consequence, despite notable attempts at considering safety in the design of public environments - e.g., Vivacity 2020 - a priori design will never be able to fully satisfy the public's needs.This proposal argues that users of a public space know the space best. It further contends that, at present, only a small proportion of users' views are taken into account during design. Design processes typically include public consultations before construction and post-occupancy evaluation surveys. However, relatively speaking, very few users provide input into these processes. On the other hand, all users have opinions about the spaces in which they live and work. As an example, a worker may mentally note that a pedestrian crossing is required at a busy intersection, but the pressures of modern life mean that s/he is unlikely ever to feed back this comment to the local council. This kind of knowledge - which people possess but may not realize its importance to others - is termed tacit knowledge. The VoiceYourView project aims to mobilise the tacit knowledge of a community to transform public spaces to be safer and more inclusive. The VoiceYourView concept is best illustrated by example. Imagine a park in central England. Mary is 72 years old and walks her dog every day. On her route, at dusk, she hesitates as she walks past a large shrub, fearing what is behind. Judy is 26. Her jogging route takes her into areas of the park that are poorly lit and she is afraid. Paul is 43 and takes his children to the park but is concerned that the bandstand is becoming a magnet for teenage drinking parties. Today, Mary, Judy and Paul each have limited ways of communicating their tacit knowledge to the appropriate people. They would need to compose a letter - which is unlikely given the time stresses on their daily lives. The goal of VoiceYourView is to provide Mary, Judy and Paul with a way to record their feedback in real-time at the moment it occurs to them in the park rather than having to wait until it is forgotten about. In this way, VoiceYourView will collect real-time information that can then be structured, stored in an online repository, and exchanged with appropriate stakeholders: other users, local community groups, local authorities, etc. The hypothesis is that, by so doing, VoiceYourView will lead to public space designs that are more attuned to the needs of their users and, in particular, do a better job at alleviating their safety concerns.We will design inclusive input devices for the collection of tacit knowledge in public spaces and will implement a repository that will use techniques from artificial intelligence (AI) to filter, structure and classify this knowledge. We will conduct a series of trials in key public areas - including Derry city walls and Coventry underpass - to drive and evaluate VoiceYourView research. We will undertake basic research to understand how VoiceYourView requirements are impacted by existing crime trends and how VoiceYourView fits into and influences existing design processes. VoiceYourView is a partnership between five universities and associated partners and will take place over a three year period.